


Out Beyond Their Star

by Ree_Dragon



Series: Beyond Their Star [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Blue Pearl is mute, Everyone wants to protect Steven, Gen, I want to protect Steven too, Lapis Lazuli is Steven's friend but not a Crystal Gem, Lapis Lazuli is a former member of Blue Diamond's court, Trigger Warning - Suffocation, can you really blame them though?, she may as well be though, you know; if she liked them or anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-05-30 18:43:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6435994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ree_Dragon/pseuds/Ree_Dragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a mission goes wrong, Steven finds himself captured by enemy gems - and he's not imprisoned alone.  He desperately needs to escape, but in order to do that he needs to gain the trust of his unwilling companion.  This is Steven, so that shouldn't be a problem...right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stuff Goes Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by my fiancee/wife type person zabjade.
> 
> This isn't my first fic, but it is my first SU fic good enough to post anywhere. Might be a bit rusty.
> 
> This story assumes that the gems completed their drill and destroyed the cluster, and that Lapis has an alliance with the Crystal Gems for Steven's sake but hasn't officially joined the team out of lingering hatred for her former captors. Should canon not match up with this, I may or may not make edits. I'll try to follow canon as close as possible up to the completion of the gem drill/cluster storyline, but after that I expect the story to break away from the official plot(s).

The warp light faded, and Steven found himself on a hill, staring out over a dense forest.  It was a warm, clear day, and everything seemed to be peaceful and quiet – certainly not the scene he’d imagined when Garnet had explained the mission to him earlier.  He thought there’d be smoke drifting up into the sky from somewhere up ahead…maybe bits and pieces of some rock or metallic thing everywhere.  Not peace and nature as far as he could see.

Right before they left, Garnet told him that something – possibly from the gem Homeworld – had crashed in this area.  She’d been so worried about it that she didn’t want to wait for the others to come back from their moon mission first, so they’d headed off immediately and ended up…wherever they happened to be right now.  Steven wasn’t sure where he was – he’d never seen this landscape before.

He turned to the tall gem, who seemed to still be scanning their surroundings.  Was she looking for something in the landscape, or using her future vision to determine where to go?  As he wondered, she stepped forward, starting down the hill and toward the woods.  He sprinted after her and walked alongside as she moved between the trees, glancing up to try and read her expression.  It seemed normal – at least, it seemed normal on the parts of her face he could actually see.

Movement to his left caught his attention.  He turned and stared into the forest.  Everything was still now, though.  Whatever he had seen had gone still again, and everything was as quiet as ever.

“Steven.”

The boy jumped at Garnet’s unexpected call and turned back to her.  She’d stopped a few steps away, and he sprinted toward her again, not wanting to be left behind.  Besides, if she wasn’t worried about something being close to them, he shouldn’t be, either.

“Stay close to me, Steven,” Garnet cautioned him as they resumed walking.  “We don’t want to get separated here.”

Steven frowned at her, but then nodded.  They were investigating a thing from space…it could be an enemy gem.  He shivered at his memories of the last time Earth had been invaded.  What if it was another quartz, like Jasper?  Or a diamond?  …No, it probably wasn’t a diamond.  Garnet would certainly have waited for everyone else in that case.  Diamonds seemed to be especially powerful, and they were huge!

Well…  Yellow Diamond was, anyway, and Peridot made it seem like most gems of the same type should be around the same size.  That made him wonder what other types of gems there were, and what their size was supposed to be.  Was there a type that got bigger than a quartz or diamond?  There was so little he knew about gems.  He guessed he could understand why Garnet and Pearl wouldn’t want to talk about it, given all they’d been through…  Maybe he could ask Peridot?  She always seemed happy to answer his Homeworld-related questions.  He could ask Lapis, as well, but thinking about Homeworld tended to make her sad, and he’d rather not put her through that unless he had to.

A weight landed on his shoulder – Garnet’s hand.  His gaze traveled up her arm to her face.  She was frowning and staring straight ahead.  He looked where she seemed to be looking, but all he could see was more trees.

“Uhh…  Garnet?”  He turned back to the gem, frowning.  “What’s wrong?”

“We’re close.”  Garnet lifted her hand of Steven’s shoulder to adjust her visor and started walking again, slowly this time.

Steven stuck by her side, resisting the urge to grab her hand.  She might need it if they wind up in danger, and he wasn’t a little kid, anymore!  He was a growing man!  Or…at least…he wanted to be.  His gem seemed to stick him at whatever age he felt like instead of letting him grow like a full human, so if he kept thinking and acting like a fourteen-year-old, maybe he could get there physically.  And then, maybe he could grow up with Connie like they both wanted.

Garnet turned a corner, and he followed her, looking around.  They were out of the woods now, surrounded by bluish-gray metal.  Huh…when did that happen?  It must have been when he’d been thinking a moment or two ago…he really shouldn’t let himself get lost in thought like that.  Getting lost in thought only ever lead him to trouble, like the time with Frybo and his pants.  Or maybe what he needed was to not get distracted so easily.  How could he manage that, though?

Right.  Mission.  Focus.

He shook his head – trying to clear out his stray thoughts – and looked around.  They were walking down a long hall of some sort, with a row of small rooms on either side.  It vaguely reminded him of the cells they’d been trapped in on Peridot’s ship, only there were no weird force field things to keep any gems trapped.  Maybe the stuff to make the fields was there and it just wasn’t active now because there were no prisoners?  He shivered at the thought, hoping there wouldn’t be any prisoners by the end of this mission.

They reached the end of the hall and turned right, entering a darkened area.  He couldn’t tell if it was a hall or a room, but Garnet seemed to know where she was going.  He wanted to ask what was going on – Peridot’s ship had been well-lit everywhere that he’d seen – but wasn’t sure if any kind of sound would be safe right now.  This seemed to be a Homeworld ship…what if the gems that traveled in it were nearby?

Another turn took them through a massive room.  The lights here were on, though they flickered in a way that hurt his eyes.  He did his best to ignore the sensation and looked around, spotting all kinds of technology he was completely unfamiliar with.  What was this room?  And…where was the crew?  This place seemed like it should be important…

Eventually, they came to another well-lit hall with several branching rooms and corridors.  He peered into each of these, trying to make out anything he might recognize from his limited experience with Homeworld ships.  Whoever designed this ship had much different ideas than the designer of Peridot’s, though, and nothing stood out to him that would be of any use.

Movement flickered to his left.  He turned just in time to see a pale-ish shape disappear through a door down the branching corridor.  He turned to Garnet to let her know, but was met with empty space where she had been just a moment ago.

This wasn’t good.

“Garnet?” he called out semi-quietly, not wanting to alert any enemy gems to his presence but unsure of how else to find her.  She could have gone anywhere!

There was no response.  He waited a couple moments, but when things continued to be quiet he started peering into all the nearby rooms.  He knew it was useless – each place connecting to this one seemed to be filled with about as many doors.  This place was like a maze!

The lights in the hallway flickered and dimmed, and another pale shape – or maybe the same one – blurred across his vision as someone ran from one hall to the next.  He charged after it.  If he couldn’t find Garnet, he could at least see what was going on.

He reached the hall just as the shape moved through another doorway.  He hurried after it, stopping just inside the next room.  This room had no exits, and it took almost no time for him to spot the blue gem working frantically on some control station.  His first thought was of Lapis, but it couldn’t be her.  She was part of the moon mission.  The strange gem was roughly her height, though, and had a similar – though significantly paler – coloration.  Even her outfit seemed vaguely similar, though her skirt was pretty much see-through.   That actually reminded him more of part of Pearl’s shirt before her regeneration, and the weird sleeve things Yellow Diamond’s Pearl wore.  So…was this another Pearl?  If so, who did she belong to, and what was she doing?

The lights in this room – and the hall behind him – dimmed.  There was a relieved-sounding sigh from the might-be-a-Pearl, and she backed away from the control station.  Then she turned toward him and let out a sound between a hiss and a gasp.

“Uh…hi!”  He smiled at her.  “My name’s Steven!”

The gem looked around for a moment and charged straight at him.  He yelped and scrambled away – caught off-guard and not wanting to fight someone who might not have any battle training – but the might-be-a-Pearl ran past him without even trying to attack.  In fact, she seemed to be fleeing from him.

Why?

“Wait!”  He ran after her.  “I’m not here to hurt you!”

Unfortunately for Steven, someone or something seemed out to hurt him.  He’d only just started to catch up with the might-be-a-Pearl when the back of his head exploded with pain and the world seemed to blink out of existence.  For a brief moment, he had a vague sensation of falling, but then nothingness enveloped him and he knew no more.


	2. Locked Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven attempts to befriend his unwilling companion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kudos, everyone. ^.^ I'll try to update this regularly.
> 
> I should probably go ahead and say this now: I'm not much of an OC person when it comes to this show. Nothing against people who have/write about gemsonas and gem OCs - it's wonderful that you have them and that you want to tell their story - but it's just not my thing. I do have some OCs I created to serve as antagonists because the plot demanded it, but my focus will be on the canon characters.
> 
> This story is actually pretty much done (I just have to give the rest of the chapters a final once-over to make sure they're as close to perfect as I can manage). I've got three short story ideas that take place after the events of this one (one of which is currently being worked on), a multi-chapter fic that'll probably take place after all those, and a few scattered scene pieces for stories taking place later...maybe I should go ahead and make this thing into a series.

The first thing he knew was pain.  It felt like his skull had been split open and that bees had made his brain into their personal hive.  He groaned at this and tried to rub at the area…maybe free some of the bees so he wouldn’t hurt so much.  Then he found he couldn’t move his arms.  That…wasn’t good.  He flailed around, ignoring the soreness in the rest of his body to try and get his arms moving again.  Eventually, he freed himself from…something, and regained his arm movement.  That was one crisis averted.

Now for the bees.

It occurred to him then that his eyes were closed, so he opened them.  Or…he tried.  They felt heavy, and it took way more effort than it should have.  After a few moments, he managed, and he was met with a dizzying mess of blue in two or three different shades.  Or maybe one of those shades was black.  It was hard to tell.

Steven half-crawled, half-dragged himself to a spot that seemed to be a wall and then sat up against it while he waited for his vision to clear.  The bees slowly made their way out of his brain, enabling him to think again.  But…what was there to think about, again?  Oh yeah…where was he?

Well, staring at this mess of blue wasn’t helping him any.  All it was doing was giving him more of a headache.  He closed his eyes and sighed.  What had happened?  This wasn’t any place he recognized.

His vision cleared a little, and the blue mess turned into a series of rectangles ranging from pale sky blue to navy.  They seemed to be metal – something he could have guessed if he’d been paying attention to how the floor and wall felt against his hands – and they enclosed him completely.  There was no light-scattering field to escape from, or even a door that he could see.    He…wasn’t sealed in here, was he?  Was he just going to be left here, then?  …No, no, of course not.  The gems would come for him eventually, if he didn’t find a way out for himself.  He just had to wait until the last of the fuzziness in his head cleared itself up, and then he could start working out a way out of here.

In the meantime, he pulled his backpack close.  At least he’d been allowed to keep it…he could have lunch if he got hungry before he was rescued.  He hadn’t packed much in the way of food – Garnet told him it would be a really brief mission – but he at least had a few snacks and something to drink.  That ought to hold him long enough.

He rested his head against the wall and sighed.  This…wasn’t very comfortable.  He’d have to make do, though.  There was nothing soft he could sit on but his bag, and that wouldn’t be a very good idea.  Not unless he felt like breaking everything inside.

Then he happened to look in the far corner.  His vision must have cleared even more, because there was something there he hadn’t noticed before – another gem!  Wait…he’d seen that gem, just before he found himself here.  He struggled to his feet, wobbling a bit but managing to stay balanced.  He braced himself, preparing for an attack, but none came.  She was just…watching him, not doing or saying anything.  He frowned at that.  What did she want?

 “Hello?” he tried after a moment or two of utter silence between them.

The unfamiliar gem gasped and took a step back, pressing herself against the wall behind her.  She looked away from him now, and seemed to be flinching, though it was hard to tell with her hair obscuring half her face.  Steven frowned as he watched her.  That wasn’t any reaction he’d expect from a Homeworld gem.  But then, she hadn’t been acting the way he’d expected a Homeworld gem to act earlier, either.  What was she doing?

 “It’s okay,” he spoke again, trying to reassure her as he continued to study her.  She, like their surroundings, displayed varying shades of blue, though hers seemed to be strictly paler shades.  Shouldn’t that have stuck out to him?  But she was also fairly small for a gem – maybe around Lapis’ size.  Her gem was perfectly circular and smooth, located just under her neck.  Her outfit was little more than a swimming suit with a see-through skirt that reminded him vaguely of the outfit Pearl used to wear before her regeneration.  In fact…there were a lot of similarities there, adding weight to his earlier assumption.  “You’re a Pearl, aren’t you?”

The poor gem was visibly trembling now, though she managed a nod.  Her left foot twitched, and he wondered if she was checking for more space behind her.  He sat back down, hoping that would put her at ease.  Now that he knew she wasn’t here to threaten him, there was no need to be battle-ready.

“I’m right here, okay?  I’m going to stay right here, where I can’t touch you.  You’re safe.”  He smiled at her.  “My name’s Steven.  So…do you know why we’re here?  Or…where here is?”

The Pearl frowned, and Steven thought she looked troubled, but she kept silent.

He nodded to that.  “It’s okay if you’re not ready to talk to me.  I’m a friend, though – I promise.”

The Pearl lowered her head, and – after a moment – sank into a sitting position.

Steven sighed and tried making himself comfortable by leaning against the wall.  This proved to be painful, so he lay down instead, curling up to try and make himself a little more comfortable.  It was getting a bit chilly on the floor.  Or maybe it was only now that he was able to feel the cold.  Either way, he wished he’d brought his jacket.  The day itself had been warm, so he’d only worn his usual t-shirt, pants, and sandals.  It’d be okay, though.  The gems would be here soon.  Maybe he could talk them into taking this Pearl along, as well.  Something was wrong – he didn’t know what, but she was so fearful, and he wouldn’t be comfortable just leaving her like that.  They’d managed to save Peridot and Lapis, so why not the Pearl?  And…he needed to think of something to call her besides Pearl, since that name was already taken…  Maybe later, once she trusted him enough to talk to him, she could offer a suggestion.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

At some point, he must have drifted off.  He wasn’t aware of falling asleep, but he _was_ aware of waking to find the world around him shaking.  He yelped and looked around, but there was nothing to give away what was happening.  Then the shaking eased and eventually stopped.  Steven waited, but the world seemed to be still for good, so he forced himself to his feet.  He had to find a way out of here…now!

Steven looked around at the walls that encased him again.  Nothing stood out to him at all…  Wasn’t there supposed to be a crack or a place that had a slightly different color or something?  Maybe a glow around something he should focus on?  That was how any respectable villain in his games crafted their stuff…  But then, this wasn’t a game, was it?  Of course they’d make the exit impossible to see.

 _Maybe the Pearl knows something…_   He looked around until he spotted her, and then his eyes widened.  She…wasn’t doing well.  Her form had an almost…static-y effect to it, and occasionally flickered.  Had something happened to her gem?  Or was there something else wrong?  What had happened while he slept?  Whatever it was, he needed to get close to her so he could heal her.  He climbed to his feet and tried to walk toward her, but stopped when she moved to another wall.

“You really don’t have to run away from me.   I just want to help you.”  He fought the urge to try again.  If she moved too much, she might make things worse, and he wasn’t sure how well he’d be able to protect her if she ended up hurt enough to retreat into her gem.  “I have healing powers, so I can fix you.  You want to feel better, don’t you?”

Her response was to lower her head and look away.

Steven took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  This was…frustrating wasn’t quite the right word, but close enough.  “What did they do to you to get you like this?”  He looked around and then stepped back, sitting against the wall again.  He still wanted – needed – to get out of here, but he needed to get out of here with the Pearl, and it looked like he’d have to work to gain her trust first, at least to the point where she no longer felt like she had to get away from him.

“I’ll stay over here, then.”  He smiled at her.  “If you feel like you can trust me, though, I really would like to help you.”

In the meantime, he had to figure out what he was going to do with himself.  The urge to escape still screamed at him, but he was stuck, so he needed a distraction.  Maybe he had something fun – or at least time-passing – to do in his bag?  He couldn’t remember what all he’d packed other than a bit of food and drink.  He looked between it and the Pearl.  “I’m just going to get my stuff.  There’s nothing there that’ll hurt you.  If there was, I’m pretty sure it would have been taken from me, anyway.”

Steven scooted toward his backpack, keeping his movements slow and obvious so he didn’t startle his companion.  Once he reached it, he started rummaging through its contents, pulling out a couple juice boxes and bags of chips.  Maybe this was a way to get her to trust him?  It worked for Centipeedle.  The Pearl wasn’t Centipeedle, though.  Besides, chips were best when super fresh, and he wasn’t quite ready to eat yet.  He wanted to wait until he was starving, just in case it took that long for the others to get here.  His attention returned to the bag and he sifted through more of its contents until he found his phone.

“Yes!  I can call Connie!”  He pulled the phone out of the bag and tried to turn it on, ignoring the cracks in the screen.  If he’d been thrown in here, then of course it would have suffered some surface damage.  In fact, he was surprised all he had was a head injury and some soreness.  Maybe, once he got home and changed clothes, he’d notice some bruising, but no bones were broken or anything.

His bones weren’t broken, but his phone seemed to be.  After a few unsuccessful attempts to get it working, he shoved it back in the bag.  That was useless now.  What else did he have?  He really wished he had his ukulele…music was good for trust-gaining.

“Raft…compass…Dave Guy?  What are you doing in here?  Eh, never mind…  Oh!”  He pulled out a pack of playing cards and re-packed the bag before setting it aside.  He then opened the cards and started to shuffle them, glancing toward the Pearl as he did.  “I’m getting ready to play solitaire, but I can make it into something else if you’d like to join me.”

No response, but he’d expected as much at this point.

“Okay then, but come on over if you change your mind, all right?”  He smiled at her.  “I’ll even show you how to play.  It’ll be fun!”  He stopped shuffling then and started playing, glancing up from time to time as a noise sounded from somewhere beyond his prison.  Any time now, they’d be free…right?

Then a noise sounded somewhere above him.  He stopped his game and glanced up, listening close as the noise seemed to get closer.  It almost sounded like footsteps…had the gems finally come to get him?  He gathered up his cards and put them in their box.  If that was the case, he wanted to be ready to leave as soon as they found him!

The footsteps stopped overhead.  He picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder, glancing at the Pearl.  She was staring up too, visibly trembling.  Poor gem…but they’d be fine once they were out of here!

A different kind of noise sounded above him, and he stared up, expecting to see some kind of door appear.  That…kind of happened.  The rectangles that made up the walls, floor, and ceiling sort of swallowed each other, creating a hole above the wall he was facing.  When they stopped, he froze, staring at the gem silhouetted against the light in the next room.  He couldn’t make out details, but he could determine the shape…

…and that gem was no one he knew.


	3. Fear and Desperation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven unleashes his inner paladin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with me this far, and I'm glad to see some of you actively enjoying this. Even though this is the third chapter out of eight, this is about at the halfway point of the story (one chapter is an epilogue, and one chapter was split into two during the first draft). I'll probably be putting next chapter's notes at the bottom of the story (unless I forget) because I think it might deserve an explanation and I want to do that without spoiling things. Anyway, I hope you continue to enjoy this, and I'll be back with the next chapter (hopefully) in a few days or so.

He was vaguely aware of a yell that may or may not have come from him.  Then he was aware of the floor dropping from beneath him – or maybe he’d been lifted.  Before he could process what happened, there was a flash of color – green, he thought – and an explosion of pain inside his head.  Then he greeted a surface – the floor? – with his nose, causing another explosion of pain to shoot through him.

_What…?_

A strangled gasp caught his attention.  He tried to sit up and look around to see what was going on, but his body felt heavier than stone, and even turning his head so he was facing something other than the floor was too much.

There was a sound between a loud growl and a roar – not that there was too much difference between the two at that volume – and then words that Steven felt he should understand but couldn’t.  Then there was a hard _thunk_ against the far wall, and his insides lurched as he remembered his companion.  _Pearl!_  

“What did you do _to the ship_?”  The voice was gravelly, and rose from a growl to a near screech.  There was a smack, a grunt, and another _thunk_ accompanied by a sharp, sickening _crack_.  Steven cringed.  The Pearl was in trouble!  He needed to help…and his body was too heavy and weak to lift.

There were more sounds.  He thought they might be fighting.  The young half-gem tried to force himself into a sitting position.  He never got that far, but he was at least able to lift his face off the floor.  This did precious little to help him see what was going on, though.  There was a massive green form in front of him that had to be some type of quartz, but her hair and lower legs blocked any view he might have gotten of the Pearl.

“Do you think you’re being any help to Blue Diamond by shutting us down?”  The form in front of him jerked, and he thought he heard a stuttered gasp above the cracks that split the air.  “Do you think you’re being any help to _anyone_?  Stupid Pearl!”  The Quartz turned and flung the Pearl into a nearby wall.

Steven’s eyes widened as he watched the slender blue gem slam hard into the wall and crumble to the ground in front of it.  Her form seemed to fizzle in and out several times before settling on an in-between state that looked far more like an image his TV couldn’t quite pick up than anything that should exist in reality.

 _She’s dying!_   That thought sent painful strength surging through his limbs, and he was able to push himself halfway into a kneeling position.  He stumbled forward from there, his feet pushing his body forward and his hands held halfway out to catch and push him back upright as he overbalanced and fell.  He was trying to run, but his movements felt slow and sluggish, like he was trying to move through a pool of gelatin.  Meanwhile, the Quartz stomped toward the Pearl, her right arm held up as she prepared to strike.

“Stop!”  Steven dived in front of the Pearl and summoned his shield just in time to deflect the fist.  The force of the blow shattered the shield and pushed his arm into his gut, somehow managing to knock the air out of his lungs.  He collapsed onto something pink and remained there, gasping and struggling to force air back into his lungs.

At least he had his bubble.  He’d apparently subconsciously summoned it around himself and the Pearl after the hit.  On the other side, the Quartz was staring at him, horrified.  That was weird…  Shouldn’t she be angry?

A moment or two later, the massive gem turned and leaped through the hole in the ceiling.  The rectangles surrounding the hole spat out their neighbors, shrinking and then closing the opening.  Steven watched and waited, but it seemed the two of them were alone again.  At that realization, the bubble disappeared.

As soon as he had his breath back, he turned around, wincing at the sight of the Pearl.  Her face was turned to him, but that was the only sign of life in her.  Her body was flickering pretty much constantly, and her nose was crooked like it had been broken in at least two places.  One of her arms seemed to fade away just above the elbow, and her gem looked all but shattered, sporting many deep cracks that ran most of the way across its surface and even weaved through each other.  The sight chilled his blood and seemed to prove his earlier assumption that she was dying.  She looked really far gone…how much time did she have left?

“I’m going to heal you, and it’s going to be really weird, but I need you to trust me, okay?”  He looked from the Pearl to his hands.  Were they clean enough for this?  …Probably not, but he didn’t have anything to clean them with but durian juice, and that might be counter-productive.

The Pearl’s head moved very slightly – was that a nod? – and she shifted, twisting her torso so that it faced him.  The movement seemed to cause her great effort and pain.  Just how much damage had the Quartz caused?  …Enough to make her think that he couldn’t possibly do any worse, probably.  Or was she trusting him now because he’d defended her?

At least she’d be fixed, soon.  Steven tried imagining all his favorite foods until his mouth started watering, and then he licked his right hand.  He then slowly, carefully placed his hand on her gem, making sure his fingers pointed up toward her face so he could avoid making this any more uncomfortable.  He wasn’t sure if gems had the same sensitivities as humans – there was no tactful way to ask such a question, and no one had seen fit to tell him without prompting – but he was already crossing who knew how many comfort thresholds with the Pearl.

Her gem started glowing, and he moved his hand away.  The glow started to spread over her body, and he backed up several paces to make sure she had whatever room she needed.  She was so timid, he was sure she’d rather not have anyone near her during such a vulnerable time when it wasn’t necessary.  Besides, standing back gave him a full view of the healing gem, and he stared transfixed as the glow spread, pulsated a bit, and then faded.  Gems always looked so cool when magic was happening…and that was a kid thought, wasn’t it?  Dang it, he was supposed to be grown-up Steven now!  …But he was kidnapped grown-up Steven.  That gave him a pass, didn’t it?

The Pearl remained exactly where she’d been for a moment or two after the glow faded.  Her form was solid now, and all her injuries seemed to be erased.  Steven watched as she slowly sat up, her head tilted toward her newly-intact arm.  She stretched out the limb, her fingers twitching, and then lowered her gaze further so she seemed to be looking toward her now flawless gem.  Long, graceful fingers ran along its surface, and…was that a smile he saw?  It was faint, but he thought he’d seen the corners of her lips twitch upward.  It was gone in instant later, replaced by a more neutral, or possibly thoughtful, expression.

She rose to her feet, taking a couple careful steps.  He watched her, smiling as her feet seemed to hold her weight.  It was nice to see her feeling so much better after everything…and even nicer to know that he’d had a part in her recovery.

Then she was moving toward him.  Steven froze, barely daring to breathe as the Pearl drew closer for fear of shredding whatever courage she’d gained.  As it was – with him being perfectly still and unthreatening – her steps were slow, and she seemed to be shaking.

She was only a couple feet away from him before she dropped down, her weight supported by her left knee and right foot.  Steven took a step forward, intent on catching her, but stopped himself when he realized the fall had been deliberate.  She was…kneeling to him?  Maybe on his birthday, such a thing would have amused him or made him happy, but right now he just felt guilty.

“It’s okay.  You don’t have to do that.”  He tried to grip her hands – smiling when she let him – and gently pulled her back up into a standing position.  “I know how Homeworld treats Pearls, but I’m not like that.”  He let go of her hands and stepped back.  “You should get comfortable.  You probably need to rest after today.”

Rest made him think of his bed back home, and he caught himself yawning.  It hadn’t been long since he’d woken up, but the metal floor wasn’t the most comfortable of resting places, and his sleep had been interrupted.  He pulled his backpack off his back and set it on the floor before curling up beside it, his body shivering as the cold metal started to chill him, working its way past his skin and into his bones.

He lay like that a while, drifting in and out of consciousness.  After some time, he was vaguely aware of a shadow hovering over him.  A moment or two later, a warm hand brushed across his arm.  Was the Pearl worried about him?  Then something warm pressed up against his back.  It was a bit uncomfortable at first, but then the warmth started seeping into him, taking the bite out of the cold metal underneath him and easing him into sleep.


	4. A Dream and a Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven has a dream and more stuff goes wrong.

He found himself standing, which was weird because the last thing he remembered was closing his eyes for sleep.  He was surrounded by an almost entirely blue room, which was normal until his eyes adjusted and he could pick out shapes and the occasional hint of white or red beyond an odd blue veil that looked suspiciously like hair.

…Wait, what?

 _Where am I?_   Steven tried to look around, but he couldn’t move.  His body was standing, staring straight ahead at something that he guessed was a star map of some kind, though it was a star map covered in symbols he couldn’t read.  He could see a pale blue curtain out of the corner of his right eye, and somewhere beyond that two people seemed to be talking, though their voices were too faint for him to catch any words.  Who were they, and what were they talking about?  He wished he could move closer…  What if this was something the Crystal Gems needed to know about?

After a few moments, the voices stopped.  His head turned a little toward the veil, though the rest of his body still seemed immobile.  He tried forcing himself to take a step forward, but his body remained still no matter how hard he focused on movement.  It was like he was stuck in a video game cutscene or something.

 _Why can’t I move?_   He continued to try and will his body into action, but he may as well have been a rock – well, a normal rock and not a magical one.

“Pearl, come here.”

The command got him moving.  A blue hand that seemed like it was meant to be his brushed the curtain aside, and he found himself walking toward a throne where a massive gem that had to be a diamond – Blue Diamond, maybe? – sat.  In front of her were two other gems big enough to be quartzes – the green one he’d seen earlier that day and a fiery red-orange one he didn’t recognize.

As he reached the throne, his gaze lowered and he found himself kneeling at the diamond’s feet.  Now he could see more of himself, and what he saw definitely wasn’t his own body, though it was familiar.  Those large, bare blue feet could only belong to his companion.  So…this had to be a dream, right?  That was the only thing that made any kind of sense.  He’d had weird dreams a little like this before with Lapis, though he hadn’t shared her body during those dreams.  Why was this one different?  Was it because she was with him in the real world?  The thought that she might be influencing this somehow entered his mind, but he pushed that thought aside.  He doubted he’d reached the right level of trust with her yet that would inspire her to do this on purpose, if that even was one of her powers.  However this was happening, he seemed to be dreaming an event from her past, and it looked like he was going to be experiencing it through her eyes.  This was…really weird, but not the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him.

 _All right, dream, what do you want to show me?_   He did his best to relax and waited for something to happen.

“A few exceedingly foolish members of White Diamond’s court have managed to crash a ship containing objects of vital importance to our cause,” Blue Diamond explained.  “You are to accompany Aventurine and Agate to retrieve them immediately.”

The Pearl dipped her head, held her pose for a moment, and then rose to her feet, taking a step toward the two quartzes.

 _Is this how she ended up on Earth?_   Steven wondered as he watched Aventurine and Agate turn to leave.

“You will remember what we discussed,” Blue Diamond spoke before trio could leave.  “I will have my Pearl returned to me in perfect condition.  Failure to do so will result on both of you being broken.  Is that clear?”

Aventurine and Agate clasped their hands together and dipped their heads to the massive gem, responding almost in unison.  “Yes, my Diamond.”

“Very well.  I will let Emerald know the two of you are to be granted access to the hangar.  I’ll be expecting your swift return.”  Blue Diamond gave them a dismissive wave, and the duo headed off toward an opening in the room.

The Pearl followed after the two, making her way past another curtain – Blue Diamond sure seemed to like those – and down several steps toward a large blue-silver platform surrounded by a starlit sky.  More gems than he could count filled the platform – working at consoles, standing in clusters or alone, walking whatever way to whatever thing he didn’t understand.  At the bottom of the steps, Aventurine and her companion glanced back to the Pearl to make sure she was following.  She dipped her head to them as she reached them, and Steven thought he could feel fear from within and just outside him all at once.  Was this her fear?  Not that he blamed her…  Aventurine was pretty scary.  She reminded him way too much of Jasper, and he wondered if the two happened to know each other.  He could easily see them being friends…or enemies.  With that personality type, it could go either way.

Aventurine gestured across the platform, toward a dome shape at the far end of what he could see.  “Come on.  The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get back.”  She started walking again, and her companion followed.

The Pearl let them go a couple paces ahead of her and then followed.  They passed by several interesting-looking gems in various colors, but his gaze was fixed on Aventurine.  He guessed the green gem was a higher rank than Agate, or maybe just scarier.  He really wished he could have a look around – this might be the only time he got to see this place, and he had precious little exposure to gem stuff.  What he did know was pretty much all primitive by their standards.  He really liked it, but he was still curious to see how they’d evolved.

They reached the dome, and a small green gem – Emerald? – traced something on a screen to create an entrance.  They walked past the green gem and into a dark room that lit up as soon as the entrance closed behind him.

 _That’s a lot of ships…_   The Pearl stared around at all the ships in view, and Steven was more than happy to stare right along with her.  They varied in size and shape, but were all made of the same mix of blue metals that he had gotten familiar with in the last however-long-it-had-been.  He couldn’t make out much about them, but he guessed each one was meant for a different kind of purpose – transporting an army, transporting Blue Diamond herself, cargo, maybe some scouters…

Aventurine stopped at one of the smaller ships.  Her gem glowed, and a section of the ship seemed to glow along with it before it melted away.  Then, once she and Agate were inside, the Pearl followed.  The interior of the ship was dark, though there was at least enough light to see by.  There wasn’t much to see – just the same bluish-gray hall he’d seen before.  The Pearl followed the other gems into a room with a screen serving as a window and stood beside Aventurine as she sat down at the controls.  His gaze was fixed straight ahead as the far side of the dome opened and the ship practically crawled toward it.  Weird…shouldn’t ships be fast?  Maybe they were just being careful.   There were so many in here, and Blue Diamond probably wouldn’t be happy if any of them got damaged.  Then again, Yellow Diamond didn’t seem all that broken up about losing the hand ship…

They made it out of the hanger and into the sky, heading toward…someplace.  He watched the stars move past them, the ship slowly speeding up as it drew further from what he assumed was Homeworld.  The sound of footfalls nearby alerted him to Agate walking away, leaving Aventurine to control the ship.  What was she up to?  He really wished the Pearl would turn and look…was it a rule for her to just stare straight ahead?  This was really frustrating…

For a while, things were still and silent – save for the stars zipping by outside.  He wondered if Aventurine would say anything – conversation would at least help pass the time – but she seemed focused on her task, and the Pearl was seemingly content to just stand there.  At this point, he was starting to wonder if the Pearl was even capable of talking.  She hadn’t said a word – even to Blue Diamond.  Shouldn’t she have?  And…his mind was wandering.  He needed to focus!  Part of him hoped something would happen – that Garnet would find and wake him so they could escape or that the ship would be jolted by something and he’d wake up that way – but the rest of him wanted to see where this was going.

It was hard to tell how much time passed when all he had for entertainment was the occasional nebula or galaxy they flew past.  It seemed to take forever to get anywhere.  It was a dream, so it couldn’t have been that long, but even a minute seemed like forever with nothing to do.  After some amount of time, a small planetoid came into view, and they seemed to be heading toward it.  Was that their destination?

The Pearl finally moved – walking to the doorway just as Agate reappeared.  Crushing pain enveloped his right arm and the Pearl let out an odd half-hiss, half-grunt.

“Easy with her!” Aventurine admonished the other quartz.  “Blue Diamond will turn us into powder if we return her Pearl in less than perfect condition.”

Agate snorted.  “You worry too much.”  She yanked hard on the Pearl’s arm, causing her to stumble forward.  “Hurry up.  Let’s get this over with.”

The gems marched through the ship and out onto the planetoid.  Would there be air here?  Would that matter?  Maybe not in a dream, and not in the Pearl’s body…  Dream logic aside, he was relieved when he found himself outside and not suffocating.  His lungs – well, her whatever-passed-for-lungs – felt completely normal, and he couldn’t even tell if any air that might exist around the planetoid was breathable.  Was it like this for gems when they were underwater, too?  He would never regret his dad, but it would be nice to not have to worry about breathing…or using the bathroom, since bad things tended to happen to toilets when certain gems were around, and he really didn’t like having to pee outside no matter how much Amethyst seemed to.

The trio entered a crater, and he could see a silver ship up ahead.  A panel slid open as they approached, and a yellow gem – about as tall as the quartzes but not nearly as massive – stepped out to meet them.  She regarded each of them in turn, but her gaze seemed to linger on the Pearl.  It felt like she was looking through her to him, and he’d have shivered if he had a body that let him react.  It was impossible to see him, he was sure, but that stare was piercing, and he felt weaker the longer it burned into him.

Then, finally, she turned back to Aventurine.  “This is her?  Blue Diamond’s Pearl”

Aventurine nodded.  “As promised.”

Steven could almost feel his insides sink.  _What did they want with you?_

The yellow gem glanced back at the Pearl.  “Not much to look at.  I was expecting something fancier…”  She shook her head and headed inside the ship.  Aventurine was the first to follow, and Agate pulled the Pearl in after her.  He internally cringed as he noticed five other gems ahead of him, ranging in color from orange to white.  None were quartzes, but they were all much bigger than the Pearl and gave off the confident air of someone in a high rank.  So…who were they?

 _I wish Peridot was here.  She’d know…_   Garnet and Pearl would know too, and maybe even Lapis, but Peridot was the most likely to answer.  No one else liked thinking about Homeworld much.  At least, not normally.  Maybe if he managed to memorize them, he could tell her about them when he got home and get his answers that way.

“She’s to be returned to Blue Diamond unharmed,” Aventurine informed the unfamiliar gems.  “I’m trusting you to make sure that can happen.”

One of the gems – tall and creamy not-quite-white – approached him and waved Aventurine away.  “I’ve handled entire armies without incident – one worthless Pearl should be easy.”

The Pearl lurched, surprising her captor so much that she was almost able to break free and escape.  Unfortunately, Agate recovered quickly, and strengthened her grip on her.  There was a sharp pain in the back of his – her – head, a shout from Aventurine, and then the Pearl was suddenly pinned against Agate’s chest.  She wriggled and kicked, trying to break free, but it was like trying to fight a steel wall.

“Hurry up with this!” Agate growled, tightening her grip.

“Relax.”  The unfamiliar gem retrieved something from  table.  He couldn’t get a good look at it, but – as she approached – the tip began to glow white and sparkle.

_That’s…not a good sign, is it…?_

The thing moved toward the Pearl almost faster than he could track.  Then the whole world seemed to flash white and black as her gem exploded in pain.

Then there was nothing.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 _Ugh…_   Steven’s eyes blinked open and he and stared at a yellow…thing that was inches in front of his face.  What happened?  That hadn’t been there before, had it?  Where was he?  And what was all this blue stuff in front of—oh…he was still the Pearl, wasn’t he?

_This is a really, really weird and scary dream._

With no control over the Pearl’s body, he was forced to lay still and wait.  Time passed – he didn’t know how much – and he realized he could feel cold metal underneath him.  Blue-gray surrounded him on all sides but the side with the field.  Aventurine and Agate must have taken the Pearl back into their ship while she was knocked out, or whatever had happened there.  What had happened, exactly?  What was that thing they used?  As he tried to figure it out, the Pearl moved a hand over her gem, and he realized he could feel a faint burn that seemed concentrated in the gem.

 _What did they do to you, Pearl?_   He… _really_ needed to hug her as soon as he woke up, if she’d let him.  Whatever they’d done had caused lasting damage if it was still hurting.  Had he fixed it earlier, or was it still burning her?

It took him a moment to realize the yellow thing was one of those fields that kept gems from escaping.  In fact, now that he was aware again, he recognized his surroundings as a holding cell, almost like the one he’d been in before.  But…why was he in a holding cell?  He was the Pearl right now, wasn’t he?  She was loyal to Homeworld!

But…those other gems weren’t loyal, were they?

 _Later.  I’ll figure that out later_.  He could see through the light, and he thought he could make out Aventurine’s shape all the way down the hall.  She was pacing and gesturing at something or someone he couldn’t see.  It kind of looked like she was yelling – or, at least, sternly talking – at someone.  What was going on there?

The Pearl must have wanted to find out, too, because she pushed herself along the cell, getting as close to the agitated gem as possible.  He still couldn’t hear much, but he could pick up the occasional word.  Something about diamonds – possibly Blue Diamond in particular – and damage, and…the voice stopped.

A moment later, he could hear heavy footfalls coming his way.  The Pearl scooted away from the wall and curled up near the middle of the cell, probably trying to look like she hadn’t been trying to eavesdrop.  Another moment, and Aventurine stopped in front of him.  The unfamiliar gem from before stopped behind her, backing up a couple steps as the quartz spun around.  The cell seemed to vibrate as she slammed her fist on the wall.

“Careful!” the other gem cautioned.  “These cells are sens—“

“If this mission fails, it’ll be on your gem!”  Aventurine snarled at her companion, then jerked her head toward the cell.  “Blue Diamond’s going to know something is wrong the second she gets a look at that!”

 _What does she mean?  What—is this how she got hurt?_   The Pearl seemed to be wondering what Aventurine meant, too, because she glanced down at herself.  At first, there didn’t seem to be a problem.  Even the arm that had been grabbed too roughly looked normal.  Then he got a good look at her gem.  There were tiny cracks all through it, almost but not exactly like when he’d first gotten a look in the waking world.

“By the time Blue Diamond gets close enough to notice, it’ll already be too late,” the other gem pointed out.  “The corruption will have spread through her at that point, and the entire court will have been exposed.  All you have to do is drop her off and leave as soon as you can manage.  You can handle a simple task like that.”  She walked off.

Aventurine growled, punched the wall again – hard – and stalked off.  The field keeping the Pearl contained started to flicker, but he only barely noticed.  He felt the Pearl’s panic rising in him like it was his own.  Poor Pearl…what must she be thinking right now?

The Pearl curled tighter, face buried in the crook of her right arm, and her body started to tremble as her tears fell.  This wasn’t right…  Aventurine wasn’t the loyal soldier Blue Diamond thought she was.  She was planning…something, with some other gems.  Something that couldn’t be good for anyone.  And…they’d made an innocent Pearl part of it!

He still didn’t fully understand, but they said they’d corrupted her somehow, and that she’d be corrupting Blue Diamond and the rest of the court upon her return.  The Pearl was being used to destroy everything she’d ever known and loved…he’d be crying in a heap about now, too, in her place.

 _It’s okay…_   Steven’s whole being ached for her.  She wouldn’t be able to go back home, even in the present when he’d healed her.  If she was still corrupted, she’d infect everyone.  If not…Blue Diamond seemed ruthless and uncaring in Garnet’s story.  He wouldn’t be surprised if she assumed that the Pearl had gotten caught up in whatever the other gems were doing and decided to shatter her rather than risk anything treacherous happening.

_You’re going to be okay, I promise.  I don’t know if I’ve healed the corruption or not, but the gems and I will find a way to take care of you, and you’ll always have us._

Her crying increased, her breath hitching in silent sobs.  This went on for a while, but…then she stopped, and she pushed herself into a sitting position.  What was happening now?  He watched as the field continued to flicker. It seemed to be getting worse.  The Pearl tensed, inching closer to the field.

_Pearl, what are you doing?_

The world lurched as she dived forward.  She went through the field just as it flickered away, and it seemed like she had made it, but then pain ripped through him as the Pearl’s right ankle crackled and fizzled out of existence.  She let out a sound between a gasp and a hiss as the pain shot through her – their, right now – body, but it reformed itself as the field flickered away again and she quickly pulled it free of the cell.  After checking it and then testing her weight on it to make sure it still worked, she charged forward, heading into a room that looked like it might be control station, and Steven thought he knew what happened from here.  Here is where she started messing up the ship, eventually making it crash on Earth.  Everything important from this point was probably something he’d experienced first-hand.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Then, suddenly, he was back on the ground.  His eyes shot open and he looked around, noticing the familiar surroundings that held him captive before the dream.  He moved a hand toward his face, confirming that he was, in fact, him, and then tried to sit up.

As he moved, the warmth left his back, and he heard the scrambling as something moved away from him.  He turned to see the Pearl staring at him, close but just out of reach.

“Good morning.”  He tried to smile at her, but his expression faltered.  The dream was still very fresh in his mind, and he felt bad for the blue gem.  She’d gone through so much, and the corruption…no wonder she’d been so scared.  What could he ever hope to do to make it better?  He wished he could talk to her about it.  Did she even know about the dream?  He wasn’t sure, and had no idea how to ask her tactfully and in a way she could answer.

 “I…well—“  The room shook and tilted suddenly, cutting off his thoughts and his words.  Steven lost his balance and fell against the Pearl, who drew in a sharp breath as she was knocked back against a wall.  The lighting flickered and then went dark.

Several moments passed.  Then the room shook again, and both gem and boy were knocked to the ground.  Steven did his best to untangle himself from his companion and looked around, struggling to catch his breath.  What was going on?  This couldn’t be anything but bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I was sick over most of the week. Still am, but I'm getting better.
> 
> Now, about the dream. I figure if Steven can dream about Lapis inside Malachite, the events of this chapter aren't too much of a stretch. Who says the dream-walking has to go the same way each time? This chapter was pretty difficult to write...I think I rewrote the whole thing twice before I was happy with it. Even at the beginning, this part didn't want to be told in any other way but through Steven's eyes through Blue Pearl's eyes (if that makes sense...), so yeah.
> 
> It feels like I had something else to talk about in here, but I can't remember it off-hand. If I remember, I'll edit it in.


	5. Running Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ship's life support starts failing, and everyone's in a hurry to escape.

He couldn’t see.  He could hear something far away – a low rumble that he couldn’t identify.  He climbed to his feet, but without the ability to see where he was, he had no way to tell where he was going.  That, and…with no visibility, he’d rather not risk stepping in a certain corner, where certain products of an organic body best not mentioned existed that both he and the Pearl had been ignoring up to this point.

Then there was a blinding light shining from somewhere near the floor.  He squeezed his eyes closed and turned away, giving them a moment to adjust before he opened them again.  What—oh, that had to be his companion!  He’s seen the other gems do something similar various times, so it wasn’t that surprising that the Pearl could turn herself into a flashlight as well.

“Thanks, Pearl!”  He resisted the urge to ask if she knew what was going on.  If she did know, she wouldn’t be able to tell him.  Or could she…?  “Do you think you could…find my bag for me?”  His chest started aching, and he’d had to pause for breath in the middle of his sentence.

The light shone around the room, stopping on the cheeseburger-shaped backpack.  It rested against the wall to his left, and he dropped down beside it to rummage through its contents.  Unfortunately, he hadn’t brought anything that could be used as a writing utensil or surface, and – after a moment – he gave up and rested against the wall, his breathing labored.

The light shifted downward, and the room darkened again.  He could see a pair of arms moving along the floor as the Pearl crawled toward him, and he smiled at her.  Was she worried about him?  “It’s okay.  I’m okay.”

But the Pearl came closer, until the light from her gem shone on his chest and he could see her nose a few inches from his own.  It was…more than a little creepy, even if he knew she was harmless.  He stared where he thought her eyes might be, and found himself pressing against the wall.

Then the light shifted again, and her face was out of his.  Instead, she was beside him, her legs pulled up against her body with her arms crossed over them.  Steven frowned as he stared at her.  She seemed so sad, now…but of course she was sad.  If what he’d seen in his dreams was true, she’d given up everything to protect everyone she cared about back home, even going as far as to try and maroon herself on some random planet with some of the gems that had hurt her.

And now…that hadn’t worked, and the both of them were trapped in what he guessed was some type of cargo storage area with the air running low and the power off.  That thought sent a jolt through him.  If it was dark in here, what about the rest of the ship?  Would the air situation be any better outside this room?  Where would they end up?  He was pretty sure they’d gone off-planet somewhere, with how long they’d been trapped and the shaking from before,  which meant he needed to get out of here soon if he wanted to live.  Unfortunately, he didn’t see any way of making that happen.

“It’s too bad…we can’t…just wish it open…huh?”  He stared up at the ceiling.  “Everything that makes…it work is…probably stuck…on the other side…”

The Pearl turned to him for a moment.  He thought she was staring at him again, though he couldn’t make out anything with her gem glowing so bright in his direction.  But then the beam of light she was emitting moved to his bag, and she pushed herself forward to dig through its contents.  He watched her, wondering what was going on.  Part of him wanted to protest, but if she had an idea that would get them out of there then she was more than welcome to use anything in there.

The Pearl rummaged around for a while, pulling out things seemingly at random – his broken phone, Dave Guy, and the pack of cards – and then she found the raft.  Her gem and the raft started glowing white-blue and – a moment later – the raft flew out of her hands and out of sight.  A dull noise sounded above him, followed by the screech of metal on metal.  A dim blue light flickered somewhere far above him, and it took a moment of staring at it before he realized what had happened.

“Pearl, you can…wish things open?!”  He stood, then all but collapsed, panting for breath.  Maybe that sudden movement hadn’t been the best idea…

Something rustled in front of him for a moment or two, and then Pearl shoved his now-closed bag into his arms.  He barely had time to put it on before her arms were around him and the floor dropped away.  Then the dim light surrounded him, and he could make out shapes and colors , though details still eluded him since the lights seemed to be struggling to stay lit.

The Pearl set him down and gave him a moment to recover.  He tried, but breath only seemed to be coming harder, and she eventually picked him up bridal-style – which was a bit awkward since she wasn’t that much taller than him – and ran down the hall, turning a corner into a slightly brighter-lit room.

 _Where are we going?_   He looked around as the Pearl ran, but he couldn’t see anything that might tell him where in the ship they were.  All the various halls seemed to be pretty much the same.

Then they turned another corner, and there was a rush of something blue heading his way.  Something pulled at him, and he found himself on the ground behind a pair of blue legs.

“Lapis?”  His voice was barely more than a whisper – with his breathing the way it was, he couldn’t make it any stronger.

“You won’t hurt him anymore!” Lapis charged the Pearl, slamming her against the wall with her water wings.  The Pearl let out a strangled gasp, but remained still, either unable or unwilling to fight.

“Lapis, stop!”  Steven tried to yell out.  It came out as more of a croak, but she seemed to have heard him.  At least, she hadn’t made any further attacks and now she was facing him.  “Don’t…hurt her.  She’s…a friend!”

“Steven, this is a Pearl belonging to Blue Diamond,” Lapis informed him.

Steven nodded.  “I know…It’s not like…that, anymore.”

Lapis stared at him a moment, and then pulled her wings back.  The Pearl collapsed, but recovered a moment later and climbed to her feet.

Steven smiled at Lapis.  “Thanks…”

Lapis frowned at him.  “We need to get you out of here.”  Using her wings, she secured Steven to her back.  Then she turned to the Pearl.  “I trust Steven, so I’ll trust you.  We need to get to an escape pod as fast as possible.”

The Pearl nodded and ran off.  Lapis followed, and Steven wrapped his arms around her.  The wings were keeping him in place nicely, but holding on to the blue gem felt more secure.  Breathing was coming even harder and more painfully now…it should be easier since he wasn’t the one running.  He guessed the air was still running out.  How much time did he have?  He shuddered and tried to push that thought away.  He had two gems helping him – he’d be fine.

“You hanging in there okay, Steven?” Lapis asked as she and the Pearl entered a large room.

“Y-yeah…”  His lungs were burning with the effort of breathing, but he didn’t want her to worry, especially when she was doing what she could to help him.

Lapis turned her head to peer at him, and he got the feeling she didn’t believe him.  He smiled at her, hoping to reassure her, but she just squeezed her eyes closed and turned away, her whole body tensing.  After a moment, she started pacing, and he caught glimpses of the Pearl messing with some machine against the nearest wall.  What was she doing?

Then she stopped, and part of the wall slid open, revealing a hall that hadn’t been damaged.  At least, the lights seemed to be working.  She waved Lapis after her and the two blue gems darted into the brightly-lit hallway.

Now that Steven could see better, he made out bruises on Lapis’ face.  He winced at them – they didn’t seem to affect her, but he didn’t like seeing any of his friends hurt.  He wondered what happened – had she run into Aventurine or Agate on her way to rescue him?  That was why she was here, right?  And what about Garnet?  Had she gotten out okay?  Had she gone back for help?

The Pearl darted into a side hallway leading into another large room.  This one had a window – or, at least, a screen that may as well be a window – and he could see a sea of stars ahead of them.  He frowned at that as the Pearl did something on the console – or whatever that was – in front of it.  “Lapis?”

“Yes, Steven?”

“Where…exactly…are we?”

“Space.  That’s probably all I should tell you,” she answered.  He nodded, though he’d worked out that much on his own.  “Surprisingly far from Homeworld, considering how much of a head start they had, but this ship is in pretty rough shape.”

“I guess we’re…”  Steven had to pause to take a few breaths.  “Still far…from home?”

Lapis nodded.  “That’s why I’m here alone.  Everyone else wanted to come along, but they would have slowed me down, and I had to make sure I got to you before your captors reached their destination, wherever that may be.”

Steven frowned.  “Garnet?”

“They’re fine,” Lapis assured him, and the fact that she mentioned a “they” instead of a “she” confirmed that Garnet had been captured and defeated just like him.  That explained why she hadn’t come for him.  “I found and freed them first.  They’ll meet us when we reach the escape pods.”

Steven nodded.  Sapphire would know where to go and when, with her future vision.  He hoped they’d be okay…  He knew the two of them were strong – especially together – but he always worried about his friends when he wasn’t with them.

The lights went out entirely and the ship shook violently.  Lapis crouched down, bracing herself against the floor, but the shaking never let up, and she eventually stood again.  “Pearl, we don’t have time to wait!”

Despite Lapis’ impatience, it took a while longer for a panel in the wall to open.  The Pearl disengaged herself from the console immediately after, turning to the panel instead.  After a moment, an opening appeared in the wall next to her, leading into another room with a hall at the far end.  She ran ahead – keeping her balance despite the turbulence – and Lapis staggered after her, speeding up as she got used to the ship shaking around her.

The trio made their way through the room and down that hall to another.  Lapis caught up with the Pearl just in time for her to open another panel at the end of the hall.  The new room was fairly well-lit compared to the others, though the lights flickered erratically as they headed inside. A couple shapes disappeared through the floor before he could figure out what they were, though he had a feeling they were escape pods, given what he’d seen with Peridot.  Was that Aventurine and Agate?  Where would they end up?  He was upset with them for what they’d done to his friends, but part of him still hoped they’d be okay, wherever they were.

“Steven!”

Steven looked to his right in time to see Ruby charging toward him.  He smiled at her and waved as he was set down.

“What happened to you?” Ruby gave him a concerned glance before turning her glare to Lapis.  “What did you do to him?”

“She didn’t do anything, Ruby.”  Sapphire caught up with the group and nodded to Lapis and the Pearl.  “The air’s too thin in here.”

The Pearl sprinted to the middle of the room and stomped on the floor.  It started glowing, and a pod resembling Peridot’s rose up from the space.

Ruby frowned at the pod.  “That’s not going to hold all of us.”

“It doesn’t need to.  It just needs to hold the three of you.”  Lapis walked forward, stopping behind the Pearl.  “This’ll be rough.  Brace yourself.”

The Pearl nodded, apparently understanding whatever it was Lapis intended to do.  Steven frowned at them.  “Lapis, what—“

Sapphire placed a hand on his shoulder.  “Shh.  It’ll be all right.”

But it wasn’t all right!  Lapis’ wings wrapped around the Pearl and her hands moved toward the paler gem’s head.  A red hand moved over his eyes, blocking his vision, but there was no blocking the sickening _crack_ he heard a moment later.  Another moment passed, and then something was pressed into his hands.  His vision was unblocked, and he stared down at the perfectly round white gem cradled in his palms.

_I’m sorry, Pearl…_

“It was necessary to save her,” Sapphire stated.  “She’s going to regenerate as good as new once we’re safe.”

“Yeah…I know.”  Steven sighed and approached the escape pod.  How were they going to do this?  Three bodies – even relatively small ones – would be cramped in a space like this…

Ruby answered the question for him, picking up Sapphire and carrying her to the escape pod.  Once inside, Ruby scooted over, making as much room for him as possible.  Burdened by the pain in his lungs and the gem in his hands, Steven struggled to climb in after her, but Lapis boosted him over the edge and helped him get situated as he took a seat beside Ruby and Sapphire.  With the blue gem’s help, he managed to remove his backpack and set it at his feet.  His right side and arm were squished almost painfully against Ruby’s left side and Sapphire’s legs, but that was nothing compared to the tightness inside his ribcage. 

Lapis backed out of the way, and a window slid up and over him, closing the four gems off from the blue gem and the rest of the universe.  Then an odd, thick gel-like liquid filled the pod, just like Peridot’s had.  And, like Peridot’s, the liquid was somehow breathable.  He remained as still as possible as the escape pod sank below the floor and out into space, watching near the top of the window as Lapis – clinging to the top of the pod – started to fly them home.  The stars drifted in and out of his view as he caught his breath, but his focus was more on the blue gem just outside.  “Hey Sapphire?”

“She’ll be fine,” Sapphire tried to assure him.  “Lapis has flown much farther than this.”

Steven nodded.  “I guess so…”

“You should probably bubble that,” Ruby pointed out, nodding her head to the Pearl in his hands.  “It could be bad if she reforms here.”

Steven frowned.  “Will she be okay in the bubble?”

Sapphire smiled at him.  “She’ll be fine.  It won’t be for long.”

Steven nodded, closed his eyes, and focused.  His hands shifted away from the pale gem as a rose quartz bubble formed around it.  “I’ll see you as soon as we get home, Pearl.”

“How did you end up with Blue Diamond’s Pearl, anyway?” Ruby asked.  “Isn’t she supposed to be back on Homeworld?”

Steven nodded and glanced between his companion and the expanse of space outside.  “It’s…kind of a long story.”

“We have time,” Sapphire pointed out.

“And nothing else to do,” Ruby added helpfully.

That was true.  Steven glanced down at the Pearl, took a deep breath, and explained everything that had happened to him from the moment he and Garnet were separated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another end-of-chapter note, because spoilers.
> 
> I hope you guys weren't too disappointed by the lack of a fight scene. ^.^; I wanted to write one, but it didn't seem to fit (and Steven wouldn't have been able to participate in his condition, anyway). I also hope you don't hate Lapis too much. She really was just trying to do what she thought was best for Steven (in this case, saving his new friend the only way she knew how at that moment).
> 
> And...about Blue's telekinesis - Blue Diamond's gems seem to have psychic powers in place of weapons (as seen with Lapis' hydrokinesis and Sapphire's future vision and cryokinetic incontinence and even Ruby's pyrokinetic incontinence...and I know Lapis isn't a confirmed member of the court, but she is heavily implied to be). Pearls are meant to hold/manage their masters' stuff, and being able to manipulate objects with her mind means Blue Pearl could probably do that more efficiently than most other Pearls (making her a better status symbol for her diamond). So...for this series, telekinesis is Blue Pearl's "weapon" and she won't ever summon anything "normal".
> 
> Next Chapter: Escape Pod Shenanigans! (or...Ruby is a Beautiful Cinnamon Roll Too Good For This World, Too Pure)


	6. Escape Pod Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The escape pod flies toward Earth and Ruby fills Steven in on what happened to her and Sapphire since they were separated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the one that got sliced into two. The rest of a certain happening will take place in the beginning of the next chapter.
> 
> One more real chapter and then the epilogue to go! Thanks for sticking with me this long, everyone. I'm glad to see so many people enjoying this. <3

“So she slammed the wall above my cell – like that’s really going to scare me.”  Ruby rolled her eyes, and Steven smiled, nodding along with her tale like he had been for the last forever-long.  “And she tells me that if I keep doing that, I’ll only damage my gem – like she even knows what my gem can handle – and I tell her to get f—“

“Ruby.”  Sapphire’s voice was gentle, though there was more than a hint of a warning in her tone.

“Sorry.  Fried,” the red gem corrected herself.  “I told her to get fried.  And then she gets right in my face—”She leaned toward Steven, though Sapphire’s body against her blocked her from getting close like it seemed she wanted.  “And she starts yelling again, so I…”

Steven’s focus shifted to the top of the escape pod as Ruby continued her story.  The red gem’s arms and legs were waving wildly – or as wildly as they could in this cramped space – just like the other parts of her story where she’d detailed Garnet’s capture by the rogue gems and a few near-escapes while waiting to be rescued.

Occasionally, Sapphire had to stop her from smacking the pod, Steven, or – a couple times – herself, and Steven wondered how much of that was thanks to future vision and how much of that was thanks to the two knowing each other so well.  Part of him wanted to ask, but not while Ruby was talking.

Now the red gem had moved on to a point where she was watching some other gems poke around at something weird.  That was another less-than-exciting part, so he continued to peer upward.

 _Where’s La—oh!  There!_   He sighed in relief as a pair of blue hands came into view again.  He looked up to check on the winged gem every so often, but sometimes she was out of his line of sight, or he’d just catch sight of her fingertips sliding back toward the metallic part of the pod.  It looked like she was having a hard time hanging on – her face even looked a bit strained last time he saw it.  Unfortunately, the pod was soundproof, so he couldn’t ask how she was holding up.

“So I kept pacing, and I couldn’t hear her singing anymore, and there was this quartz yelling at everything.” Ruby’s story continued.  Now that he was reassured that Lapis was still with them, he could pay better attention to Ruby.  He glanced down at the rose quartz bubble in his hands just to make sure the Pearl was still safe – she was – and turned back to Ruby, giving her his full attention.

“I don’t know – I don’t care.  And I kept hitting that spot that made the neutralizer wall flicker—” She punched to demonstrate, and Sapphire caught her fist to avoid it colliding with the glass part of the pod.  “Sorry!  So I kept trying, and I couldn’t get more than my arm through before it activated again, but it’s not like there’s anything to do but keep trying, so I—“

“Ruby, the bubble.”  Sapphire caught her arm before it could smack into the bubble in Steven’s hands.  He pulled it away as far as he could – which wasn’t more than a few inches with how much space was available in the pod.

Ruby cringed.  “Sorry!”  She folded her arms and crossed her ankles – she wouldn’t be able to cross her legs properly with Sapphire still in her lap – and kept going.  “So then _she_ comes along.”  A nod upward indicated Lapis.  “And she calls me stupid for trying to break myself out!  Can you believe that, Steven?  I mean, what was I supposed to do?  Sit back and wait for rescue?  Not with Sapphire who-knows-where!”

Steven nodded and leaned against his side of the pod.  Things were starting to warm up – literally – past the point of comfort.

“She didn’t call you stupid, Ruby,” Sapphire pointed out.  “She said you did a stupid thing, and I corrected her.”

Ruby let out a sound between a snort and a chuckle.  “Yeah…seeing her slapped like that was the first good thing to happen since we got on that lousy ship.  Anyway, yeah, it turns out Lapis freed Sapphire first, and then they came to free me, and I wanted to look for you, but Sapphire said Lapis would be able to find you just fine without us and that we had another thing we needed to do, so we split up.”

Steven nodded, grimacing.  Was that where Lapis’ bruises had come from?  Sapphire was supposed to be the gentle one…but he guessed either of them was dangerous if you insulted the other.  As he thought this, the temperature in the pod passed “warm” and ventured into “hot”. 

“Ruby.”  Sapphire cautioned again.  The temperature lowered slightly, and Steven let out a relieved sigh.

“What?”  Ruby glanced down at her limbs.  “I haven’t almost hit anything lately.”

Sapphire gestured to Steven.  “You’ll boil him.”

Ruby stared at Steven – horrified.  “I’m so sorry!  Ummm…”  She looked around, as though trying to find something to cool down with.

“It’s okay!”  Steven tried to reassure her.  An ice cold trickle weaved through the hot, turning it warm, and he grinned.  “See?  It’s cooling down now!  But…yeah.  No one wants a boiled Steven.  Although…Steven-shaped pancakes would be cool.  Do you think we could have that for breakfast?”

Sapphire grinned and rubbed his hair – an act that would have annoyed him a year or two ago.  Now he found it comforting.  He…wasn’t regressing back to baby Steven, was he?  Or was that a sign of his growth?  Maybe he should ask Dad, when he got back home.   Poor Dad…he was probably really freaked out, by this point.  Would the gems have told him anything?  Maybe Amethyst would have…he didn’t think Pearl liked him very much, and Peridot barely knew him.

“–ran forever, and then the Homeworld gems found us.  I guess that was the other thing – if they were busy with us, they couldn’t get to you, right?”  Ruby was going on again.  Her hands and ankles were free, and she was back to gesturing as she spoke, but her movements seemed semi-restrained for the moment.  “So we kicked their butts!”  She kicked out, denting the pod and making everyone inside cringe.  Fortunately, she didn’t seem to do enough damage to endanger them.  “Sorry…so…we kicked their butts, and they ran away, and then we tried to chase them, but found you instead.  So…that’s everything.”  She turned to Sapphire.  “Right?”

Sapphire nodded.

Steven glanced up again, frowning when he saw no hint of Lapis.  It looked like she was still having trouble.  She…was still with them, right?  He glanced at Sapphire.  Maybe she’d know?  She could see the future, so she’d at least know if Lapis would be all right, wouldn’t she?

“Steven.”

Distracted from his thoughts, Steven’s gaze lowered at Sapphire’s voice, and he blinked at her.  She pointed to the window, and he looked.  They were going visibly faster than they had been a moment ago, and there was a vague shape up ahead.  What—wait…  “Is that…Earth?”

Sapphire nodded, smiling.  “We’re almost home.”

Steven fixed his gaze on the blue planet ahead of them.  “It looks so unreal…”  But there it was, and he trusted Sapphire to know that it was Earth and not some other Earth-like planet.  His heart simultaneously lifted and twisted until he almost felt like throwing up.

_No, Steven!  Not in here!  You can throw up when you get back home!_

He’d get to play on the beach and in the ocean again.  He’d get to run along the boardwalk and eat donuts and pizza and fries and all the other great things the people of Beach City cooked on a regular basis.  He’d get to play in the arcade again, and watch Crying Breakfast Friends.  He’d get to watch Amethyst wrestle, and learn new and complicated things from Pearl.  He’d get to teach Peridot more about the Earth and human culture.  He’d get to do knight training with Connie again.  And…he’d get to be with his Dad again.  Steven wiped at his eyes, not realizing until that moment that they’d started tearing up.

 _Dad…_   He knew the gems would rescue him eventually, and he knew he’d get to come home again, but he’d never gone so long without visiting his dad.  What would he be like when they saw each other again?  He’d had a nasty panic attack when Steven was captured last time, and that ship never made it near as far away.  Maybe he should ask Garnet to break the news to him when she was back?  She’d probably know how to avoid a reaction like that…  Then again, she had told Dr. Maheswaran that he and Connie died, that one time…maybe he should just do it himself.  Connie would probably be willing to come with him when it was time to explain where he’d been.  She knew how to handle this kind of thing.

Steven shook his head – it was starting to hurt – and sat back.  He’d think about it more when it got closer to time.  There was a more immediate worry right now.  A glance up told him that Lapis was still missing, and he couldn’t check behind the pod to make sure she was still with them.

“Everything’s going to be okay, Steven.”

Steven nodded at Sapphire’s words, though he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the top of the window.  Sapphire would have used her future vision before comforting him, he was sure.  She was considerate, but she wouldn’t lie to him.  Still…he wished he could see Lapis for himself to know she was okay right now.

As he watched, they made their way closer to Earth.  Before too long, he was able to pick out the landmasses from the ocean, and then he recognized Delmarva.  The world seemed to shift around so they were heading straight for home rather than somewhere further inland.  Had Lapis moved the pod?  He hoped so – that meant she was definitely still with them.

The liquid surrounding him was getting uncomfortably warm, and the warmth seemed to be emanating from the pod itself rather than Ruby this time.

“Uh…Sapphire?”  He turned to the blue gem, but Sapphire wasn’t looking at him.  Her face was resting against Ruby’s neck, and what he could see of it looked strained.

“She’s trying.”  Ruby’s voice sounded just as strained as Sapphire’s face looked, if not more so.  She held the blue gem close, stroking her hair.  It’d be adorable if not for the situation they were in.

The pod smacked into something, and water splashed against the window before surrounding it – and probably the rest of the pod – entirely.  Their descent seemed to slow, but he couldn’t see anything through the water to tell one way or the other.  At least the pod had cooled down a little, though it wasn’t as much of a relief as he would have liked.

Then the water fell away.  He got a split-second glimpse of the temple’s face before the pod dropped, and he had slightly more time than that to form a bubble around himself, the Pearl, Ruby, and Sapphire before the pod slammed hard against the ground, splitting into several chunks on contact.

“ _Steven_!”

Steven looked up at the sound of Pearl’s – his teammate/caretaker Pearl’s – voice, dropping the bubble as she all but charged toward him.  Then her arms were around him, pulling him close.  Steven wrapped his arms around the thin gem, clinging tightly to her with the hand that wasn’t holding the other Pearl.  The bubble surrounding the dormant gem had popped with the hug, but that was fine.  Now that they were home, she could regenerate whenever she was ready.

“You’re back!”  Another, thicker set of arms wrapped around him, and he pulled one arm away from Pearl to include Amethyst in the hug.  “Awww, and you’re trembling…”

Another familiar pair of arms wrapped around the trio, and Steven looked up to see that Garnet had joined them.  He guessed Ruby and Sapphire had fused as soon as the bubble shielding them all was gone.  They had been separated for a while…  He’d miss them, but it was really good to have Garnet back, and he leaned into her touch.

Then, after a moment, he started to look around.  “Is Dad here?”

“Right here, buddy.”


	7. The Reunion Continues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More hugs and tears are shed and happy times are had by most.

Of all the things Steven had endured lately, being crushed in a giant bear hug was probably the best.  Now he really was trembling – and crying, since he could feel wetness running down his cheeks.  Odd sounds above him told him his dad was probably crying, as well.  He wanted to reassure him that everything was okay – that he was okay – but the words stuck in his throat and refused to come out.

“A- _hem_!”

Steven reluctantly pulled away from his father and looked toward the house.  Peridot was standing just outside the door, but she came down to the beach to join everyone once they’d made eye contact.  When she was a few feet away from Steven, she stopped.

“Your friend – the human girl – called to check in,” Peridot informed him.  “I told her you were home.  She’s probably on her way, now.”  Her expression looked conflicted, like there was more she was wanting to say that she was having trouble getting out.

Then she stepped forward, closing the distance between them, placed her hands on his shoulders, and rested her chin against his neck.  It was the stiffest, most awkward hug he’d ever experienced, but the fact that Peridot was hugging him at all was remarkable, and he wrapped his arms around her in return.  Maybe he was forgetting something, but this seemed to be the first time she’d ever initiated affection of any sort.  She wasn’t even scared!  But…maybe she had been.

“Never do that again.”  Peridot released him and took a couple steps back.  “It hurt knowing you were gone without knowing you’d come back.”

Steven smiled at her and wiped his eyes.  “I’m sorry I worried you.  At least everything’s okay now, right?”

Peridot gave him a stiff nod and then walked away, heading toward Garnet.  The reddish gem had pulled Pearl and Amethyst into another hug after the last one broke apart, and she grabbed Peridot’s arm as soon as the green gem was in range to pull her into it as well.  He stepped toward them, intending to join in, but stopped as soon as he remembered something important.

“Hey guys?”  He looked from the beach to the ocean.  “Has anyone seen Lapis?”

All hugging ceased at his question.  Peridot stared at him – looking horrified – and then turned to the ocean.  Pearl and Amethyst frowned with worry and turned to Garnet, who seemed to be considering something.

“I did see something fall away from the pod…” Pearl mused.  “Could that have been her?”

Garnet nodded.  “Possibly.  She can’t be too far away.”

“I’ll go find her!”  Amethyst’s body melted into light, and – a moment later – a purple pelican stood where she’d been.  “Come on, Peri!  Get in mah mouth!”

Peridot narrowed her eyes at Amethyst.  “I’ve seen what you put in your mouth.  I’ll keep watch.  She might come back on her own while you’re out searching.”

“Suit yourself, then.”  Amethyst flew off over the ocean.

There was a weight on his shoulder, and he turned to see his dad smiling at him.  He’d been right, earlier – there were tear streaks lining the older man’s face.  “I’m sure she’s fine.  The ocean rose up to grab you guys out of the sky and didn’t drop away until you were almost safe.  If she made it that far…”

Steven nodded.  “Yeah…”  But he would worry until he saw her for himself.  She’d gone through so much just to save him, and she’d been really struggling at the end of the return trip.

“Steven.”  Garnet gestured to the house.  “Why don’t you go on inside?  You must be exhausted.”

Steven frowned.  He was pretty tired – sleeping on a cold metal floor would do that to anyone…  “But Connie’s going to be here any second.”

Pearl smiled at him.  “I’ll send her after you as soon as she gets here.  Go on and rest.”

Steven looked up at his dad next.  “Are you coming inside, too?”

Dad smiled at him.  “I’ll be there in a bit, kiddo.  I’m just going to pick up some food, first.  How’s pizza sound?”

Steven beamed at him.  “Yeah!  Pizza party!”  The boy wrapped his arms around the older man.  “But you’ll hurry back, right?”  He couldn’t argue with getting pizza, but he didn’t want to be parted from his dad so soon after seeing him again.  Not with everything that had happened since the start of his last mission.

His dad chuckled and returned the hug.  “Of course.  I’ll be back before you know it, and then you can tell me all about that thing you’ve got there.”

“Huh?”  Steven looked down at his hand, his eyes widening.  He’d pretty much forgotten he was still holding the Pearl.  And she showed no signs of regenerating...  The Pearl he’d always known took two weeks for hers.  Did that mean this one would be dormant for two weeks?

When Steven looked back up, his dad was gone.  He must have gone to get the pizzas already so he could hurry back all the sooner.  He should probably get inside and get things ready…  With that in mind, Steven made his way up the stairs to the house.  It felt almost unreal being back home, but a pizza party would definitely help with that.  Maybe Amethyst would even find Lapis in time for her and Peridot to join in!  If not…they’d just have to have another one!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Steven had had just enough time for a quick shower and change of clothes before a portal appeared just outside and Connie and Lion arrived.  He’d run out to greet them, and – after Lion walked off to do…whatever Lion liked to do when Steven wasn’t watching – the two friends exchanged hugs, tears, stories, and about three thousand “I missed you!”s and “Are you all right?”s.

Steven told her everything that had happened – or, at least, everything that he could remember – from the time he and Garnet had set off on their mission to the moment when they’d returned to Earth.  Connie told him about the gems’ worry over him and Garnet not returning, about them seeing the ship fly off and Lapis racing after it, and about Lion coming to fetch her and waiting while she tried to convince her parents to let her skip tennis practice just this once.  Apparently, each of the remaining gems – plus Connie and his dad – had taken shifts watching the sky to make sure they’d know the second everyone came back home.

Once they were caught up with each other, Steven and Connie had prepared a basket and a couple soft cloths for Blue Diamond’s Pearl to rest on while she remained dormant.  He’d set the basket down on the coffee table where he could keep an eye on it, and then started setting out cups and drinks.  You couldn’t have a pizza party without soda!

Now, Steven was just about done with his pizza party preparations.  He didn’t have to wait long for things to get started – not even a minute passed before there was a knock on the door.  He looked up to see Connie sprinting toward it and his dad – with a tower of pizzas – standing on the other side.

“Thanks, Connie.”  Dad walked in as soon as the door was open.  “Hey, Steven, do you think this’ll be enough?”

Steven beamed at his dad.  “I don’t know…with Amethyst, we may need about three times that number.”

Dad laughed.  “Yeah, well, if I actually brought back enough to fill Amethyst, I think I’d be putting the Pizzas out of business.”

Steven chuckled.  That would be mean…but Amethyst seemed proud of her ability to eat, so she’d probably be laughing along with them if she were here.  Thinking of Amethyst being gone made him worry, and he walked to the window so he could look out at the ocean.  Peridot was standing on the shore, looking straight ahead, and Garnet and Pearl were sitting nearby talking about something.

He thought he could see something moving in the distance, but it was too far away to see what it was.  Could that be Amethyst with Lapis?  If so, she’d been washed away pretty far...  He hoped she’d be all right.

There was a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see his dad smiling at him.  “I’m sure they’ll be back soon.”

Steven nodded.  “I know.”  He glanced back at the counter, where his dad had placed the pizzas.  “We should get to eating those before they get cold.”

The three made their way back to the counter, where Steven dug out a small stack of plates and started distributing everything.  Once that was done, they headed up to the loft and settled themselves in front of the bed to watch TV.  There was nothing on that Steven particularly cared about at this hour, so he put on an old Sci-Fi show – those were at least fun to watch, even when they weren’t that great.

He finished his first slice of pizza and was halfway through his second when the door opened and Garnet and Pearl walked in.  Garnet made her way to the counter to grab a slice of pizza while Pearl started to the stairs to join everyone.  She’d almost made it when her gaze fell on the coffee table and she froze.

“Is this her?”  Pearl knelt by the basket to examine the gem resting inside.

Steven nodded.  “That’s Pearl.  …We’re going to have to come up with a nickname for her, I think.  Otherwise, it’ll get confusing with two different Pearls around.”

“We’ll figure it out when we need to.”  Garnet grabbed Pearl’s arm and led her up to the loft.  “The last time she saw either of us, we were the enemy.  We shouldn’t be so close.”

Pearl nodded and sat down near Connie, with Garnet sitting on the bed behind her.  Steven smiled at them – it felt more like a party now that there were more than three people to enjoy it – and turned back to the TV.  On screen, the captain of a spaceship and select members of his crew were doing battle against some weird reptilian-insect thing.  It reminded him a bit of Centipeedle, and he found himself staring at the temple entrance.

His powers had grown stronger since the time he tamed her.  Maybe it was time to try healing her?  He’d have to talk to Garnet about it…later.  After he’d gone out and bought all the chips he could carry home.  And that would be after he’d found a good hiding place for them – somewhere Onion would never think to look!  Or…maybe he’d just stash them in his room in the temple?  Even Onion couldn’t get into there, could he?

The door opened, and he looked down in time to see Amethyst and Peridot enter the room, supporting Lapis between them.  He stood and made his way down to the main part of the room as they situated her on the sofa below the loft and sat on either side of her.  It seemed like she was at least mostly okay – she hadn’t retreated into her gem or anything.  She did look rather battered, though, and seemed to be moving stiffly.  She also looked a bit uncomfortable, being stuck between two Crystal Gems that weren’t him.  It would take more time and effort than they’d had up to this point for her to get anywhere close to fully trusting the others, Garnet had told him, but she’d made some progress since the first day they’d freed her.  At least, she knew she didn’t have to worry about being stuck in a mirror or anything else anymore.

Steven grabbed one of the pizzas, a bottle of root beer, and a few cups and plates and arranged everything on the coffee table, moving the basket to the side to make room.  “It’s probably stupid to ask how you are, but…”

Lapis shook her head, though the movement was barely more than a twitch from one side to the other.  “I’ll be fine, Steven.”

“She just overworked herself a bit.”  Amethyst grinned at him, taking two slices of the pizza and swallowing them whole.  “She’ll be fine after some rest.”

Steven looked from the purple gem to the blue.  “Are you sure?  It’ll only take a few seconds to heal you.”

“There’s nothing to heal,” Lapis assured him.  “I’m fine.”

He was sure he could heal her at least part of the way, but he left it alone.  If she didn’t want him to do anything, it wouldn’t be right to try.  Besides, Amethyst was probably right.  A night of rest would do them all some good.

“Hey buddy, you’re gonna miss the ending!”

“Coming, Dad!”  Steven made his way back up to the loft to rejoin the party, sighing in contentment as he sat down.  He had a cool story to tell everyone in Beach City, but he’d missed home.  Now he was back along with everyone he cared about, and he couldn’t be happier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are at the end of the main story and Steven's POV. I think most of my loose ends have been tied, and those that aren't will be addressed in later stories. The epilogue is still coming, of course - the story didn't feel right and whole without it - though it sort of officially begins a character arc or two instead of finalizing anything. This is the first story in what I hope to be a long series, so I guess I can get away with that this time (maybe?).


	8. Endings and Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis goes for a walk to be alone for a while, but things don't exactly go as planned.

The ocean was one of two calming influences on her mind.  It was late and the other calming influence was deep in sleep, so she’d headed outside to walk along the shoreline instead.  For Steven’s sake, she was living near the temple – specifically, in his room – and trying to cooperate with the Crystal Gems, but sometimes it was too much for her, and she had to get away for a while to clear her head.

Lapis stopped to scoop up a starfish that had washed ashore and toss it back into the water.  She wasn’t sure how long it had been there – for all she knew, it had died hours ago – but there was a chance it was still alive, and sending it back into the water would help its chances.  This planet was still awful, but the life it contained was precious to Steven, and that made preserving it a priority for her.

She started walking again, only to stop a few steps later when she spotted movement in the shadows along the cliff.  Curious and more than a little suspicious, she followed it.  It seemed gem-shaped – or human-shaped, she supposed – and everyone was supposed to be back in Steven’s room or the temple.  Who would be sneaking around at this hour other than her?

The shadow had moved along the curve of the cliff, toward town.  As Lapis followed the cliff, a large shape up ahead startled her.  She pressed herself against the cliff – hoping she hadn’t been seen – and peered at the shape.  She’d know that shape anywhere!

_What’s Blue Diamond doing here?!_

Except…something was off about the image of the diamond.  It was semi-transparent, and now that she was studying it she noticed it was quite a bit smaller than she remembered the diamonds being – maybe a little bigger than the average quartz.  It was sitting in the sand as well, which was something Blue Diamond would never have done.  She had her palanquin with a proper throne for her to sit on, so there was no need to get herself dirty.

Then she saw the shape curled up halfway in “Blue Diamond’s” lap, and her insides ached.  Steven had told her –had told everyone – what had happened to the Pearl and how she’d come to join them on Earth.  The story had been painful to listen to, on a personal level as well as a sympathetic one.  She knew what it felt like to be loyal to a home she couldn’t return to.  It was the worst pain she’d ever felt, and the Pearl’s wounds were so much fresher.   The two weeks that had passed since her regeneration wouldn’t have done much to ease the grief of losing everyone and everything important to her.

“Hello, Blue.”  Lapis walked toward the pale blue gem, using the nickname Steven had come up with for her in the two days it had taken her to regenerate.  She had many nicknames now, but Blue seemed to be her favorite, and she suspected the reason for that was projected in front of her.

The Pearl started, and the hologram exploded onto a mass of stars that fizzled out.  She brought her hand up under her bangs – seeming to wipe at her eyes, though it was hard to tell with her hairstyle – and then pulled herself up to a kneeling position and waited.

Lapis made her way to the Pearl and sat beside her.  “You can stop that – you know our old ranks don’t matter anymore.”

The Pearl shifted her position, sitting with her legs folded underneath her and her hands folded in her lap.  That was…better, but there was still an unnatural straightness in her posture – she was posing rather than relaxing.  It was to be expected, she supposed – it would take some time before all the conditioning she’d gone through back on Homeworld would go away, even with Steven and the others doing their best to help the deprogramming along.

“It’s okay to miss home.”  She turned away from the Pearl to glance up at the sky.  On a cloudless night like this, Homeworld’s star was clearly visible.  The sight of it made her ache, but it also brought her comfort.  “I miss it, too.  The pain’s not going to go away anytime soon for either of us.”

She glanced back at the Pearl, who had her head turned ever so slightly toward her.  Wetness stained her cheeks, and Lapis inched closer, resisting the urge to go get Steven.  He was so much better at this, but he needed his sleep.  “I know it’s hard.  Do what you have to do to get through it right now, but I think that hologram might only delay your healing in the long run.”

Even with her hair covering most of her face, Lapis could tell that the Pearl was blushing – the darkened skin on her cheeks just barely peeked out below her bangs.  Lapis placed one of her hands on top of the Pearl’s, trying to offer at least some measure of comfort.  It was awkward – after thousands of years trapped in a mirror and everything that happened since, simple things like touch felt alien and unnerving rather than anything else – but she knew it comforted everyone else in their odd little group.  Maybe it worked on Blue, as well.

“Everything here is strange and scary,” she continued.  “Nothing here is anything like Homeworld ever was.  This world is primitive and organic, and the hierarchy you’re used to doesn’t exist.  That means quite a bit more freedom, in your case, and in a way that’s also scary…”  And she was really bad at this.  But then, she was the exact wrong person to assure the Pearl that everything would be okay on Earth.  Despite all Steven’s efforts, she held no attachment to the planet beyond wanting to keep it safe for his sake.  “I can promise you’re safer here than anywhere.  Steven loves you, and he’ll protect you with everything he has.  The Crystal Gems…  I don’t trust them, but they seem to genuinely care about Steven.  If nothing else, they’ll protect you for his sake.  And…”  She gave the pearl’s hands a light squeeze.  “You have me.  We’ll adjust to this whole ‘unwilling outcasts’ thing together, all right?”

The Pearl pulled one of her hands away to wipe at her eyes again.  She sniffled audibly, and Lapis moved her arm behind the paler gem, her hand hovering over her companion’s shoulder for a moment before lightly touching down.  Her gaze drifted back in the direction of the temple.  Their absence would be noticed soon, but she wasn’t sure either of them were ready to be around the others just yet.

The darker blue gem glanced back at the Pearl.  “We’ll have to head back before long, but did you want to just sit here and stare at the stars for a bit?”

There was more sniffling, and the ghost of a nod.  Lapis gave the Pearl’s arm a gentle squeeze and pulled her into a loose hug.  The two blue gems stared into the sky together – each simultaneously weighed down and lifted up by the force of the universe and the new lives they’d have to build.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are at the true end. The story was complete without this bit, but it demanded to have this scene anyway, so here we are. Anyway, thanks for sticking with me all the way. There's a new story in the works that I'll start updating soon, and many more coming after that. If possible, I'd like to cover a lifetime and maybe beyond with these stories, but I guess we'll see how far I get.


End file.
